Dr. Margaret Coates was wearing a mask, but it was clear she was smiling. She was about to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. It feels like Christmas, the 27-year-old University of Texas Dell Medical School resident said Tuesday, moments after a UT nursing student removed the needle from her arm. This just really felt like a sigh of relief and really a moment of catharsis for me to get the vaccine.
Coates spent a month in Ascension Seton s emergency department and COVID-19 ward earlier this year. She often wears a respirator for eight hours each day to safely treat hospitalized patients.